I first came across the name of Arthur Lally in the last
chapter of Frank Unwin’s book Reflections on the Mersey [Gallery Press
1983]. Entitled Dancing Years he provides a wide-ranging account of the
many Merseyside bands and singers who played the various dance halls between
the war.
Arthur Vincent Lally was born in Liverpool on 5th
November 1900, the son of tramway motorman James and his wife Charlotte (née Hughes). The family lived in the Kirkdale area at 18 Juliet Street L5.
They later moved to 7 Dodge Street L7, off Wavertree Road (both houses now
demolished). In his early years he went to sea, serving as a steward on a
number of transatlantic trips. The Lally’s were a musical family, his father
having been an army band conductor who gave Arthur his first music lessons. His
brother Jimmy was a pianist at the New Brighton Tower Ballroom for many years
and was later a very successful arranger for some of the country’s leading
bands and his other brother Albert played piano with a number of Liverpool
bands.
Arthur played clarinet, and alto and baritone saxophone. He
moved to London in the 1920’s to pursue his musical career spending some years
with the famous Savoy Orpheans at the Savoy Hotel before becoming the
leader of the famous Ambrose’s ‘second band’, the Blue Lyres, at the prestigious
Dorchester Hotel in the 1930’s. In 1929 he organised the Decca record company’s
first studio house band and was involved in many of their recordings.
He formed his own band which performed under a variety of
names, including Arthur lally’s Million-Airs, The Rhythm Maniacs. From
1933 onwards he did a great deal of freelance work as well as being musical director
at Decca.
As I haven’t been able to cross-check this with any other source
I will quote verbatim from the Al Bowlly Club website on Arthur Lally’s final
days. “Apart from music Arthur Lally had a passion for
motor-cars, as well as interests in electrical engineering and wireless. He
also had a full pilot's licence, and in 1940 he asked to be allowed to pilot a
bomb-laden airplane to Hitler's mountain hide-out in Berchtesgaden. The request
was turned down by the War Office, and sadly due to depression, he took his own
life in his Richmond-upon-Thames home in August 1940.”.
